House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Wednesday expressed his condolences to those injured during a shooting at a Republican congressional baseball team practice earlier in the day, and said “an attack on one of us in an attack on all of us.”
“I know we want to give our thanks to the first responders and to the Alexandria Police Department who were on the scene in minutes,” Ryan said, speaking from the floor of the House. “And I know this House wants to state unequivocally that we are, as ever, awed by the tremendous bravery of the Capitol Police.
“It is clear to me, based on various eyewitness accounts, that without these two heroes, agent [David] Bailey and agent [Krystal] Griner, many lives would have been lost,” he said to applause.
Ryan also pointed to a widely-shared picture of the Democratic congressional baseball team praying for their colleagues.
.@HouseDemocrats praying for our @HouseGOP @SenateGOP baseball colleagues after hearing about the horrific shooting. https://t.co/y2HEUaSuzd pic.twitter.com/6HBrlnxtey
— Rep. Ruben J. Kihuen (@RepKihuen) June 14, 2017
“You know, every day we come here to test and to challenge each other,” he said. “We feel so deeply about the things that we fight for and the things that we believe in, at times our emotions can clearly get the best of us. We’re all imperfect. But we do not shed our humanity when we enter this chamber.”
Watch Ryan’s remarks below:
"An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us": House Speaker Paul Ryan addresses Alexandria shooting https://t.co/PMMFt4rcGM
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 14, 2017
This post has been updated.
